The Importance of a Mentor 2.0

The importance of the Mentor – Part Two.Skills that make for a good mentor, what to look for and just who should be your guide – Continuing from pervious blog posting 6th January

Efficient – you
know how to get your message across, you know how to say it a few different
ways to ensure it is received and you know when to end a conversation after the
information has been exchanged. You are
good at what you do because you always manage your time well and you can do
that with appropriate communication to the situation. You don’t waste your own time, so you
certainly don’t waste anyone else’s. You
also know when someone is wasting your time and you will manage that too.

Honesty –
it’s not a trait that will necessarily win you friends, but you know it is a
necessary one for assisting others. You
know when to offer a feedback whether it is positive or negative. You know when to challenge the thinking of
the other party and when to let them work their own way to a solution. You know when to call them out and when to
call them on the phone to remind them how awesome they are. And you are also good enough to do this more
than once if needed. This skill is no
good without a sense of giving,
otherwise you are just as blunt as Thor’s hammer in your delivery.

Failure
– no fear. You don’t
pretend that you haven’t failed, because we all have in one way or
another. It’s called the human
condition. However, you don’t fear
it. Out of every failure comes a
learning experience, a new way of approaching a problem. Experience is what causes a person to make
new mistakes instead of old ones. You
encourage others to learn from old mistakes so that they can make new mistakes,
instead of repeating history.

I hope this has helped you in finding what kind of mentor you need, understanding what it means to be a mentor and inspires you to be challanged by your own personal mentoring program and in the future be a strong mentor to those surrounding you in your professional and personal life.

Being a mentor offers new insights through seeing problems from another perspective you may not have had yourself. It gives a sense of purpose to the learning that you have had over the years.

You
will never know the pleasure of seeing someone else take your knowledge, apply
it and enjoy their own success as a result.
You may not ever get credit for the changes you have assisted in others. What matters that it feels right for you to
be a mentor.